A flexible approach
"Our customers have very different needs and objectives. If we are to help them achieve these, first we must understand what they are - and then be flexible enough to adapt our approach to ensure we deliver them."
That's how Peter Batts, Managing Director of May Gurney Highway Services, sums up the relationship his team must have with their customers.
Working almost exclusively in long-term partnership frameworks with local authority customers, Highway Services delivers a range of services to improve the quality of roads, to make them safer, and drive down costs while improving quality of service.
The flexibility Batts refers to begins with being able to work within the different forms of contract that customers put in place to meet their objectives. It then extends to the operation and delivery of those contracts to ensure high quality service and customer satisfaction.
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Essex CC has gone from bottom to top of a MORI survey showing public satisfaction with hghways |
Improving service in Essex
He cites May Gurney's relationship with Essex County Council as an example, saying: "Three years ago Essex was towards the bottom of a regular survey by MORI that measures public satisfaction with highway services and road conditions.
"Understandably their key objective was to improve the quality of service to local people, so they opted for a straightforward 'schedule of rates' when negotiating a new five year term maintenance contract to maintain highways in the south and west of the county."
When the survey was repeated this year, in a remarkable turnaround Essex came out top, with 54% of residents saying they are 'satisfied or very satisfied' with highways maintenance. The highest ratings were received for the maintenance of traffic lights, streetlights, road signs, road marking, pavements in town centres and the condition of main roads.
Driving down costs in West Sussex
In West Sussex, the focus is very much on delivering best value and driving down costs. A new generation of contract introduced in July 2005 - NEC Term Service Contract Option C - was used as the basis for a 'target price' agreement. It's believed to be the first time a UK local authority has entered into this type of agreement for the provision of highway maintenance services.
The West Sussex Highways alliance between West Sussex County Council, May Gurney and Owen Williams was formed in July 2006. It is responsible for maintaining and improving 2,500 miles of roads and 2,591 miles of pavements in West Sussex.
May Gurney is lead contractor for a wide range of services including winter maintenance, surfacing, white lining, gully emptying, cutting back trees and hedges that obscure visibility - and improvement projects up to the value of £500,000.
" It’s a win-win agreement as there’s an incentive for both the County Council and ourselves "
Peter Batts, May Gurney |
"Under the contract we are paid our actual cost plus overhead and profit, plus gain or pain," Batts explains. "The 'gain/pain' comprises the difference between the agreed 'target price' for a service activity and the actual cost, multiplied by our share percentage and offset by our performance against a suite of key performance indicators (KPIs)."
"It's a win-win agreement as there's an incentive for both the County Council and ourselves. We can improve our margin by delivering the works in a cost efficient manner, and the council and West Sussex residents benefit from the works being delivered at reduced cost."
Delivering schemes in Norfolk
In Norfolk, the emphasis is on delivering individual schemes on time and to budget - not just for the County Council but also for District Councils. Work is carried out by the Norfolk Strategic Partnership (NSP) between May Gurney, Norfolk County Council and Mott MacDonald, who are working together in a 10-year framework to deliver planning and transportation services including roads, bridges, passenger transport, waste, environment and planning.
Peter Batts explains: "In Great Yarmouth we have already carried out two phases of work using our contract with the County Council to deliver works for Great Yarmouth District Council."
 The NSP contract has been used to deliver works for Great Yarmouth District Council
The InteGreat project is transforming Great Yarmouth's famous Golden Mile and linking the seafront with the town centre. The 'innovative design' of the first phase of the project was recognised when it won the Highways category in the 2006 Street Design Awards, and the second phase received a Bronze Award from the Considerate Contractors Scheme. A third phase of work has recently got underway.
Co-location in East Sussex
May Gurney is working with East Sussex County Council as the East Sussex Highways partnership to deliver all road maintenance and new construction work - including road safety, traffic calming, surfacing, surface dressing, white lining and winter gritting.
And improving communication has been the partnership's key objective since it was formed in September 2005.
To that end, new purpose built offices have been built at the partnership's depot in Ringmer to enable the 110 members of the East Sussex Highways 'western' team to be co-located.
"East Sussex Highways is built on an integrated team "
Dave Foden, East Sussex CC |
Dale Foden, the partnership's Deputy Network Manager, says: "Co-location was our top priority at the outset of the contract in September 2005. East Sussex Highways is built on an integrated team - and achieving integration is difficult without co-location."
There have also been considerable efforts to enhance communication and interaction with East Sussex residents.
"We've introduced a whole raft of measures to improve customer communications and service," explains David Short, East Sussex Highways' Communications Manager. "Much of this involves increasing the level of engagement with the public by giving them an opportunity to comment on our service.
"Before starting any work we distribute an information pack outlining what's involved to local residents, parish councils and the local media - so they know what's going on.
"We've also introduced a single dedicated telephone number for people to contact our Customer Access Team. Local people can use the number for anything from reporting a broken streetlight to complaining about the state of the road. Problems can also be reported via the partnership's online fault reporting system."
A member of the Customer Access Team takes the initial call or email, establishes who is the best person to deal with it, initiates any action required, and then updates the caller - all within set response times.
"We deploy a variety of other methods to listen to the public," David Short adds. "These include distributing feedback forms, conducting door-to-door surveys and regularly inviting parish councils to comment on, and measure, our performance. Any complaints and suggestions that we receive as a result are fed back to managers across the partnership."
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